Woods, George Lemuel

George Lemuel Woods was born on July 30, 1832 in Boone County, Missouri. By the time he was fifteen, his family moved to Oregon. Woods married Louisa A. McBride in April 1852. He was a farmer for a time and even minded for gold in Oregon and California. Woods decided he was interested in the law so he enrolled in McMinnville College and worked his way through school as a carpenter. After being admitted to the Oregon bar he practiced law in Oregon and Washington territory. Woods was active in politics and was instrumental in forming the Republican party in Oregon. He was elected Wascon County Judge in 1863 and in 1864 he was a presidential elector for Abraham Lincoln. He was appointed to the Idaho Territory Supreme Court in 1865 but soon left that post to be Governor of Oregon 1866-1870. At the same time he was one of the incorporators of the Oregon Central Railroad 1866. When problems with the Sake Indians east of the Cascade Mountains came up, he favored fighting them over the objections of the US War Department. This may be one of the reasons he was not re-elect governor. Grant appointed him Governor of Utah territory instead. 1871-1875. He did not get along with some key local leaders and moved to California where he took up his law practice again. He practiced in Nevada for a while, too. By 1885, Woods was back in Oregon and he stayed there until his death on January 7, 1890.